Royal Observatory Greenwich Drawings and Paintings : View of the South East Dome, Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Royal Observatory Greenwich Drawings and Paintings

<p>Watercolour painting by Christabel Airy; signed and dated on the back. It shows the wooden drum of the newly built South East Dome (finished in 1857). In 1859, the <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/10181.html'>Great Equatorial Telescope</a> was installed inside it. As the wooden drum was replaced in 1893 by the onion-dome, the drawing provides an important record of the changes to this building through time. Behind the dome, a weather vane is visible. In the foreground, a woman is shown in the Meridian Garden, standing next to a beehive positioned to the left of the Transit Room.</p> <p> An earlier painting by Christabel Airy <a href='/view/MS-RGO-00116-00005-00001/1'>RGO 116/5/1</a>, dated 1847, shows a view from the opposite side of this gate looking back towards the Altazimuth Dome.</p> <p>For a brief history of the Meridian Garden, see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=970'>http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=970</a>. For the Great Equatorial Building, see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=919'>http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=919</a> .</p>